Man shot by officers is remembered by loved ones

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. The shooting occurred in the 1700 block of Grand Avenue around noon Monday and friends close to the man involved are grieving the loss.

The Mesa County Coroner's Office has confirmed what KJCT News 8 independently verified early on Tuesday, which is that the man shot by police officers was Joshua Matthew Crawford.

29-year-old Crawford was a resident of Grand Junction, and his cause of death is gunshot wounds to the chest.

Crawford is remembered by friends and family as an up and coming musician who had a bright future ahead of him.

David Davis has known Crawford for eight years. He said they've been collaborating on rap songs since 2006 and were even planning on playing a show together soon, but with the events that took place yesterday he said he doesn't know what to make of the situation, "I'm very confused right now he was honest he was a humble guy always about his music."

According to friends, music has always been his passion, but it isn't the only memory they have of him.

"He was very kind-hearted you needed anything he would be the first person you would think of that was there to help to talk you through it," says Crawford's friend Kiyanna Maestas.

Maestas has known him for nearly a decade and said her last conversation with him was a few days before the shooting. She said they talked about some personal issues he was going through because they were very close, "He was like an older brother someone I looked up to we would talk back and forth if we had problems."

The incident involving Crawford occurred after the Grand Junction Police Department received a call to remove him from a home on Grand Avenue. Details on what led to the shooting have yet to be released.

The Critical Incident Response Team is actively investigating what happened. This is the fourth time the team has been needed for an investigation in the last year.

A law enforcement source said the pace of officer involved shootings in Grand Junction has been pretty consistent over the last decade with one to two occurring each year.

They've also released the names of the GJPD officers involved, Cpl. Clint Newton and Ofc. Patrick Bridge. Newton has been with the GJPD since 2003 and Bridge joined the GJPD earlier this year.

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